Shadows Rising

Ashes in the Wind

{Andy's POV}

     I felt something shift beside me as I slept. I ignored it, snuggling closer to Ashley's side. Suddenly, I heard a light chuckle, and felt a hand stroke my cheek. "Hey, Angel," a familiar voice whispered in my ear. 

     I quickly opened my eyes, sitting up and looking to my side. "Ashley! You're okay!" I said, wrapping my arms around him and pulling him close. 

     "Whoa, slow down there, my dear, still a bit dizzy." He warned, rubbing his head. I frantically apologized, checking over every inch of him for any sign of injury, but he laughed and pulled me into a hug. "It's fine. I'm fine. What happened, though? I remember...we found Sandra in the prison, and then...something happened. I don't remember," He said, brows curled in concentration.

     "We were attacked by some shadow guy. He wasn't like the Shadow Minions. He didn't wear a mask and robes. He was just a guy, almost completely enveloped in shadows, with glowing red eyes. He threw me out of the room. You tried to attack him, but he threw you into the wall and you hit your head pretty bad. Jinxx said you cut it open and had a minor concussion, but he healed you," I explained. 

     "What happened to you? Are you okay?" He asked. 

     "I'm fine. I got roughed up a bit, but that was it. I'm okay," I assured him. 

     He smiled and ran his fingers through my hair. "Good. Where are the others?" He asked. 

     "They're out in the yard, getting Sandra ready for the final right. They agreed they wouldn't go forward with it until we were set to go, and rested up a bit," I said. 

     "Wait, final right? Sandra...?" He asked in shock. 

     "You don't remember." I frowned, realizing I had left that part out by mistake. 

     "She didn't make it? He killed her?!" he asked angrily. He and Sandra had always been pretty close. 

     "I'm sorry, Ash." I said, setting a hand on his shoulder. 

     "No. I'm sorry. You two were like brother and sister. You were much closer to her than I was. Are you okay?" He asked. 

     "I mean...it still hurts. All these years, I thought she was dead. Now, I find out she's alive, and then she's...." I stopped, my words catching in my throat as tears started to fall down my cheeks.

     "Hey, come here," Ashley said, pulling me into his chest. 

     I cried on his shoulder for a few minutes as he rubbed my back and hummed into my ear. Once I'd stopped crying, I pulled away, drying the last of my tears. "We should go. Her final right." I reminded him. 

     "Yeah. You gonna say something?" He asked. 

     "Of course. I have to," I said, giving him a small smile. 

     "You don't have to do anything you don't want to, Angel. One of us can always take over for you." He smiled and climbed out of the bed. "I'm going to go get some food. Want some?" 

     "Yeah please!" I called as I dug under the bed for my boots. I pulled them out as he went downstairs to make food. I grabbed my pants off the floor and pulled them on, then pulled on my boots and my vest before heading down to the kitchen. 

     "Here." Ash said as I walked into the room. He held up a plate of pancakes with some sausage. I took the plate and sat down, digging in almost immediately. Ash laughed. "Well someone's hungry, huh?" He asked, gazing at me with one of those love-struck smiles. 

     I felt the blood rising to my cheeks. "Only a little." Ash sat down, eating his own breakfast. 

     When we were done, we went out to the yard to meet up with the others. Jinxx, Jake and CC all looked up at us as we walked over. "We found enough sheets to wrap her up in, and we dug the pit. You want to say something, Andy?" Jinxx asked. 

     I took a deep breath, considering my words carefully. These had to be special. "Sandra...she was amazing. She was...one of the best people I've ever known." I paused, feeling rage flooding my body and tears filling my eyes. "And she didn't deserve this," I continued, "She didn't deserve to be murdered!" I stopped tears falling down my face rapidly. 

     Ashley stepped forward, wrapping me into his arms as I broke down. "Shh, it's okay, honey." He whispered in my ear. 

     Sniffling, I pulled away from him, then turned back to Sandra. "I don't know about you guys, but whoever did this...they're going to pay," I turned to my friends, my expression murderous. I thought back to the other day, all of the bodies from the massacre we had burned and buried. "We're going to make sure they pay, and each and every one of our fallen soldiers gets the justice they deserved!" I swore. 

     Each of my brothers smiled proudly at me. CC stepped forward. "You got that right, man. We'll show them!" He shouted. 

     Finally, I sighed, and turned towards Sandra. "It's time. We owe her this," I said. Jinxx nodded. CC lifted and placed her into the pit they had dug earlier. I stood at the edge of the pit, gazing down at the wrapped-up corpse of my best friend. "I'm sorry this happened to you, Sandra. We'll get them, every last one of them." I promised, before turning to Jinxx and nodding. 

     He summoned fire to his hand and threw the flame down into Sandra's body, which immediately began to burn. 

     "You okay?" Ashley asked, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. 

     "Yeah. I'm fine," I deadpanned, my gaze stuck on the burning corpse of my friend. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ashley give me a small, sad smile as he squeezed my shoulder. 

     "Jinxx, I want you to look through your books, see if you can find anything on this queen of darkness. I'm going to try and see what I can see about her," I ordered. Jinxx nodded. He turned away and started walking back towards the factory, knowing the urgency of my demand. CC, after a moment, followed him. 

     I felt a second hand on my shoulder, and looked over at Jake. "She's in a good place. I told her you were sorry, and that we would find the ones who did this. Andy, she told me to tell you not to let revenge and anger get to your head. Yes, she died young, but she died for a cause, and she would do it a thousand times over again. Her words exactly." He said with a smile. 

     I smiled at him, then looked back at Sandra. "I know. Thank you, Jake,"

     He nodded, then left. "I'm going to go back, too. My head still hurts, and I'm gonna take a nap. Are you coming?" Ashley asked. 

     "Yeah. I have work to do." Ashley put the fire out, and an idea popped into my head. I knelt down, reaching into the pit, and scooped the ashes from the bottom- Sandra's ashes. 

     "What are you doing?" Ashley asked. I held the ashes in my hand, and blew on them, watching as they were whisked away with the dry, desert wind. "Sandra always said we were all a part of something bigger than ourselves. Well, now she is a part of something much bigger than all of us-the world," I said, turning to him. 

     He smiled and leaned in, kissing me on the lips. I kissed back gently before he pulled away. "You are incredible, you know that?" He asked. 

     I nodded. "Let's get to work." Together, we returned to the base and did just that.

Hi! I hope you enjoyed chapter 3! I worked on this on and off, all day, but I think it was worth it, because I like this scene. If you did, please remember to vote and comment. That's it for now. Next chapter should be up soon. Thanks for reading! Later! ;)